Belagerent

Most recent activity

• Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

  in Cycle Touring and Bikepacking • 1 day, 3 hours

  

  Bar bag (decathlon)...£9
  Patch (inner decay)...£5

  Not having to return your bag because there's something wrong with the nice but pricey straps....priceless.

• Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

  in Cycle Touring and Bikepacking • 1 day, 3 hours

  

  Yep! I agree on all counts. the trick is to not pull it all the way open when you open it, so you only have to shift it slightly back to closed. still a bit fiddly but I never had to stop to close it.

  Was asked for some pics of it on the bike.

• Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

  in Cycle Touring and Bikepacking • 1 day, 7 hours

  

  https://www.decathlon.co.uk/junior-handl­ebar-bag-18l-id_8380516.html

  You can also get it in cool colours if you're a child.

• Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

  in Cycle Touring and Bikepacking • 1 day, 7 hours

  

  Took the ol' decathlon cockpit set up on a BnB tour in darkest kent this weekend.

  https://www.decathlon.co.uk/100-bike-han­dlebar-bag-25l-id_8355750.html?gclid=Cj0­KCQjwl6LoBRDqARIsABllMSZYvHKdZVgSw-82qi_­hD2zw5NWc1rouX5B7IzERaVAApHeLrTKbnmcaAmk­JEALw_wcB

  https://www.decathlon.co.uk/fabric-bottl­e-cage-id_8487122.html

  Had a 500ml water bottle in the bottle cage and my layers/ snax / sunnies in the handlebar bag. No complaints whatsoever though it's not like I ended up in a torrential downpour. For the price they seem pretty great if you're just a nodder like me who wants easy access to Colin The Caterpillars. I could fit:

  A bag of CTC
  Packed windshell
  Nylon overshirt
  Sunglasses case

  For five pounds i think the water bottle holder is worth it just for the grippy velcro straps it comes with. I wish it had mesh pockets on the side but I'm just being greedy.

  Also I put patches on the btwin logo so that I wouldn't get penalised for the non aesthetic brand.

• Mudguards

  in Bikes & Bits • 2 days, 3 hours

  

  I've got 65mm SKS guards on my big bro.

  You can get honjo simworks 65mm guards from fresh tripe if you want to spend big.

  SKS do ALU 75mm guards which are flat and would probably fit almost anything, but they're quite short. I have a new boxed set I could sell you if you wanted them.

• Does anyone know anything about gardening?

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 3 days, 3 hours

  

  How does one encourage beetles. I would love to have some.

• Rapha, nice but a bit pricey?

  in Bikes & Bits • 6 days

  

  Agree. It's almost worth the fiver just for the rubberised straps.

  I got their handle bar bag for fifteen pounds too. Will report back after this weekend how good it is.

• Microadventuring, mini tours etc

  in Cycle Touring and Bikepacking • 1 week, 5 days

  

  Here's a more concrete question, should I route up on NCN 1 and 179 to go by cliffe pools etc, or keep my routing as it stands, going through Cobham and hoping for some 'fun' 'off road' bits.

• Stylish cycling kit

  in Bikes & Bits • 1 week, 5 days

  

  The WWR are the ones I wear throughout most of winter. They're quite warm so in spring I transition to the durable cotton, but they aren't great in the rain (they're fine, just not great). If its definitely going to rain I wear the lightweight WWR ones (or shorts + pack overtrousers)

  If It's winter and its definitely going to rain I wear the softshell waterproofs but they are very warm.

• Stylish cycling kit

  in Bikes & Bits • 1 week, 5 days

  

  Swrve trousers are great, they aren't waterproof (except for the waterproof ones) but they keep of some rain and dry fast so they're fine for most weather.